After months of anxious anticipation, Virginia’s residential Governor’s School has announced its accepted students. Six Bulldogs have been given the opportunity to participate in this prestigious summer program at Radford and Lynchburg universities this July.
The six successful Bulldogs were accepted into three different pathways of Governor’s School. Students Claire Lee, Stephanie Long, Samantha Gloe, and Andrew Stevens were accepted into the visual and performing arts program; Sahasra Jonnalagadda was admitted into the humanities program; and Aishani Saita was accepted into the STEM program.
“One of my friends did it last year, and they told me about how great their experience was,” Jonnalagadda said when asked about where she found out about Governor’s School. “I just applied for Humanities because it was something that I have always been interested in.”
Acceptance into Virginia’s residential Governor’s School is very competitive because of the state-wide pull of the program. Students are nominated by their home school’s staff and a division selection committee in the first round of selection. Nominations begin in the fall.
“The application process started pretty early in the school year; I don’t even remember when,” Jonnalagadda said. “I had to get two teacher recommendations, and I got one from Mr. Collins– shoutout; love him. I wrote an essay, and you have to submit your transcript, test-scores, and your extracurriculars related to the topic.”
The application requirements themselves differ greatly from program to program. The more fine arts geared pathways require audio and visual based resumes and an audition, while the academic courses use test scores and transcripts. The only consistent criterion across all of the residential program applicants is that they are rising Sophomores and Juniors.
“For orchestra, I had to go through two auditions, get two recommendation letters, and fill out my past qualifications,” Gloe said. “My second audition went really well, like much better than I’ve ever done…It was different then any audition I had ever done.”
After the initial auditions and nominations, applicant’s portfolios and resumes statewide are adjudicated by a pair of professionals in the specific art’s field before the final decisions are made. The lengthy nature of this procedure leaves the applicants nervously anticipating a particular decision.
“We knew we were supposed to find out on Monday, April 15, so everyone was super excited for that day,” Gloe said. “We had been waiting the whole day and it was seven o’clock at night and we still didn’t hear anything…word began to spread around between students that you had to check spam emails.”
Gloe’s excitement about this accomplishment is shared by her fellow Bulldog scholars as they prepare for the specialized programs that await them this July. Virginia’s residential Governor’s School allows students to engage in laboratory research, field studies, and seminars from noted professionals providing opportunities that they might not have at their home high school.
“I’m really excited to spend time amongst like-minded peers and just delve and immerse myself so deeply into the subject,” Saita said. “I can’t wait to spend my days diving deeper into my passions in science and technology alongside people that love it just as much as I do.”
